What always gets me with Jane's quilts is how she takes an old or relatively 'normal' block and gives it a makeover that just leaves you in awe! Her eye for design, vibrancy and life in quilts is a gift. If you follow the 'Aurifil Designer of the Year ' projects each year you will recognise the quilt Jane designed and made featuring all twelve 2014 blocks...

At the end of this post there is a free block design Jane is kindly sharing with us, plus my tutorial for putting it together, but for now - grab a cuppa and meet Jane!ABOUT JANE:

When making
a quilt as a gift for someone, what are five things we should consider in our
planning?

1.How
the quilt will be used and what size should I make it?

Is it to be placed on a
bed, lounge, hospital room, nursing home?

2.Will
it be washed frequently?

Do I need to heavily quilt it and machine the binding.

3.Is
it for a child or infant or someone with an allergy?

Do I use all cotton
materials or can I use wool or polyester wadding?

4.Do
I match the décor of their homes or make it in their favourite

themes and
colours.

5.What
can I use from my stash?

I can choose a little bit of my favourite fabrics to
inject a bit of my

personality into the quilt.

Which one of your quilts (to date)
is your favourite? Why?

I have just made quilt for a
magazine in all greys. Grey Matter hangs
in my quilt room. A very simple design but the effect of all the different
prints makes a very earthy and calming piece.

Would you
advise a newbie to quilting to dive right in and make what they love or start
small? Most useful advice for a
newbie to quilting?

Slow down
and enjoy making a quilt. Develop a sound technique for accurate cutting and
piecing. It will simplify the assembly process.

Most
favoured quilter’s tool you’ve discovered in the last couple of years? What do
you love about it?

I am bit of
a gadget girl and like to try new rulers and notions but the most cherished and
favourite tool is my antique silver thimble that I received from a dear friend
for my birthday years ago.

What’s your
favourite quilt block?

I don’t
really have one but I am always to drawn stars and blocks with curves.

ABOUT THE FUTURE:

What’s
ahead in 2015 for Quilt Jane?

This year I
am planning a year of designing and publishing. I am at my happiest when I can
draw up a design, create a quilt and quilt it.

If you
could choose one big adventure to embark on in your future (imaginary or real) what and where would it be?

I would
like to travel the world and live with every culture and learn the art of
textile crafts.

What legacy
would you like to leave from your life?

That I
could encourage people to find the community and love that is found in the art
of quilting.

Jane's designed a large 15 inch "Shark Fins" block as a gift for you to download.

This is a twist on a 5-patch traditional block using the
diamond in a square block as the unit...

Jane's "Shark Fins" block almost did me in 'cause I'm an embroiderer who flirts with patchwork occasionally, just not with blocks as fancy as this one.

However, I was trying to put it together whilst battling a developing migraine and that was a stupid idea, right? My friend Susan helped me (via email in the middle of her USA night) to see that my biggest problem was not dividing the block into 25 squares and 'creating' from there, so the next day this is exactly what I did.

Woo hoo - it was finally 'all systems go'...

Jane has written the block to include needle-turn applique for the fins, but I'm a blanket-stitch applique gal so I omitted the 1/4" allowance around the curve and just kept the extra along the straight sides.
If you're doing it my way, trace 13 reverse fins onto the smooth side of some Vliesofix or your preferred applique bonding paper.(my tutorial for preparing a block for blanket stitch applique is HERE)

Fuse your prepared fins into a corner of each of the thirteen small squares...

I found the best thing to do was make one complete square at a time...

When you sew each square together, trim the seam scraps...

Then sew your squares into rows...

...before stitching the rows on top of each other.

And at the end you have a fabulous 15" square Shark Fins block!

I will need to finish the applique fins with blanket stitch before I decide if this will become a mini quilt 'as is' or whether I'll add a border...

How very delightful to "meet" Quilt Jane and see what she is creating. I am not a quilter and was overwhelmed with Shark Fins...until I saw that you fuse those curved pieces onto a square and then stitch down. Whew! This design would be fabulous for a guy. Creative Quilting Bliss...

Oh my goodness! What a quilt this would make. It would be such a labor of love, well it would be if I made it as I'm a novice quilter. Your block is beautiful Jenny. Jane, I can't imagine what goes into designing quilt blocks. You are definitely a Pro among Pro's.

Hi Jenny -- Congratulations to your husband as he embarks on a new career path. I wish him much success !!I met Jane at Quilt Market last fall. We had already been communicating via Instagram. She is an excellent quilter and designer and she accomplishes a LOT by making and COMPLETING many quilts. She has a longarm machine and does all of her own quilting. She's pretty amazing to me !! I look forward to making her shark fin block. Thank you Jenny !! Tay in Texas

It's always nice to receive feedback on a blog post, so *thank you* for taking time to comment!I will try to reply via email unless you are a 'no reply blogger' which means you'll have to check for my reply in the comments. Of course, life is a rather hazardous activity, isn't it? So if I don't respond to your comment that's the reason why - life simply stepped in...hugsJennyx